


Lending A Helping Hand

by BeachBlanketBingo



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Fake AH Crew, Gen, Hacker!Matt, I'm a sucker for it, I'm not out to offend anyone please let me know if I do, If I continue the Braggwood will happen, It's not very obvious and is based on personal experience, Matt has anxiety and mild Asperger's, Matt is, Ryan has his own problems, Ryan isn't part of the main crew, THEY WILL BE THO!, but they're not touched upon in this story, vagabond!Ryan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-18 19:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11296854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeachBlanketBingo/pseuds/BeachBlanketBingo
Summary: The Vagabond needs a favor and Matt is pretty sure he's lost his mind._____________Alley behind corner store on 8th and Main. Midnight. Come alone.Matt's thumb ran over the blurred words scribbled across the scrap of paper, and, for the thousandth time that day, he wondered what wild hair had decided to crawl up his ass to actually get him here at this random location written on a shitty piece of paper that had been stuffed into his pocket earlier in the day without him noticing. Smooth Matt. You really are a genius.





	1. Wherein Matt Questions His Life Choices

**Author's Note:**

> I have a LOT of love for this 'verse. I'm hoping y'all do too. I have more solid plans to continue this fic as opposed to my first one, but this will probably be told in snippets and short fic (around this length) instead of one long multi-chaptered one. 
> 
> Also as I mentioned in the tags Matt will have anxiety issues and mild Asperger's/Autistic symptoms. It is not my intention to offend anyone and I'm not here to cast either disorder in a bad light. The symptoms are based on my own personal ones/experiences.

**_Alley behind corner store on 8th and Main. Midnight. Come alone._ **   
  
Matt's thumb ran over the blurred words scribbled across the scrap of paper, and, for the thousandth time that day, he wondered what wild hair had decided to crawl up his ass to actually get him here at this random location written on a shitty piece of paper that had been stuffed into his pocket earlier in the day without him noticing. Smooth Matt. You really are a genius.    
  
Exhaling a nervous sigh while leaning back against the damp brick, he shoved the crumpled piece of paper back into the pocket of his well worn hoodie. He was glad that he'd decided to throw it on before taking off, the heavy fabric more of a security blanket against his growing anxiety than any real use at keeping the chill out of his bones from the rain. It was a quiet night, drizzly and cool, but the clouds had been sitting heavy in the sky all day threatening to let loose a downpour. Matt would be in no way surprised if it began to rain harder soon. 

Things like this just didn't happen to him, and he was in no way prepared for any outcome of the night, but, here he was standing in an alley waiting for some mystery person to kill him. The others wouldn’t even know. They’d find out on the news tomorrow. “John Doe Found in Downtown Los Santos Shot to Death”: What a remarkably lame headline, he snorted. 

God was he an idiot. Why did he think it was a good idea to just come out here by himself without telling anyone of where he was going? Who was he kidding though, Matt knew why. He sighed turning his gaze skyward, they wouldn't have let him go or if they had they would have tried to convince him that they needed to come along as backup. His fist clenched around the paper. “ ** _Come alone”_** it had said, and, even though Matt had no idea who had slipped it into his pocket earlier in the day, he had no intentions of pissing them off.   
  
The thing that was bugging Matt the most though was that no one knew who he was. He'd been working with the FAKEs for over two years now and no one save for the Main Crew even knew he existed, whoever was after him was _good_. Well, assuming they were after him specifically for that reason. His foot tapped anxiously against the ground, dragging against the wet pavement as he pressed closer back against the brick wall in hopes of shielding himself more with the not-at-all-useful awning hanging over him. He wished, not for the first time, that he had his headphones with him. They helped a lot when he was feeling overwhelmed, and he'd give just about anything to have their comforting weight around his neck or much more gladly over his ears blocking out everything around him, but Matt could easily realize just how counterproductive that idea is, given that he should be on guard, no matter how appealing the thought may be.  
  
A sudden, muffled clatter at the end of the alleyway pulled him from his thoughts, startling him slightly. His line of sight jerking to the right, trying to catch sight of whatever had made the noise. His breath immediately caught in his throat. There, in all his masked glory was the Vagabond. Matt's entire body went stiff at just the sight of him. The man said nothing, just stood there stock still watching. Matt, against his better judgment, pushed himself from the brick wall and shoved his hood down off his head. In for a penny, he supposed. The light drizzle was picking up, of course, and the rain quickly soaked Matt's hair, his breath fogging up his glasses. He grumbled, mostly to himself, before tugging them off and sticking them in his hoodie pocket knowing blurry vision was better than no vision. He wanted to call out to the masked man still standing at the entrance of the alley, but held his tongue not sure if he wanted to spurn the Vagabond into action seeing as how he had no idea what the man was actually here to do.   
  
His heart was racing in his chest, and he was so on edge that he couldn't stop the small involuntary jump his body happened to decide was a good idea when the Vagabond finally began to walk towards him. His gaze flickered around the narrow alleyway, knowing that if things went south, he might have a small chance at running away given that the area wasn't a dead end, but he doubted he could make it far, especially from someone like the Vagabond of all people. Matt swallowed, nervousness sitting uneasily in his throat. He had no idea how this was going to play out, but if he made it out unscathed he would at least have a cool story to tell the others. That was a big "if" though.  
  
"You came."   
  
The first thing Matt noticed was how normal the man sounded. His voice was slightly muffled, obviously, but other than that he just sounded like... well like a regular guy, though, in retrospect Matt wasn't exactly sure what he should have sounded like, it was just a little jarring to hear. It was so unexpectedly normal for someone wearing a rubber skull mask. The next was that the statement had sounded more like a question, an upturn on the end of the words, a surprised lilt, cluing Matt into the fact that the Vagabond hadn't actually expected him to show at all.   
  
"Uh... yeah?" His fingers flexed in his pockets as he once again glanced nervously around the alley as the man came to a stop a few feet away from him, "What um... fuck, dude. Why the hell did you ask me here? You've got the wrong guy, seriously, I'm no one." Maybe he could play the entire thing off. There was no way the Vagabond actually knew who he was. He shuffled, his eyes squinting as he tried to focus without his glasses.   
  
"No, no. You're exactly who I'm looking for, Matt." Vagabond chuckled, the noise almost too quiet to be heard. Matt couldn't help but tense up, one foot stepping back almost involuntarily.  
  
"How do you know who I am?" He asked, his eyes narrowing. The rain was coming down harder now and he was trying to keep himself from shivering and focus on the task, though it was proving difficult. Being a hacker, Matt knew a lot about the Crew. A lot. And only now did it really click that this was probably a really, really stupid fucking idea.   
  
"Calm down, I'm not after you or your Crew. I... wanted to ask for a favor. I've been tailing you, to put it lightly. Noticed you out and about. Had to make sure you were who I was looking for before contacting you."   
  
Now that was surprising. Matt relaxed, his entire being suddenly interested in what was going on. He was more than a little upset at himself for being found socially, but that could be fixed easily. But to hear that the Vagabond, _The Vagabond_! needed his help was kind of thrilling. And terrifying. Mostly terrifying to be honest and it wasn't like it mattered anyway, he couldn't just help the guy. He wasn't part of the Crew and Matt wasn't exactly supposed to take jobs from unaffiliated people. The struggle must have flashed on his face because Vagabond was already speaking up again.  
  
"I'm not out for any information on your crew. I just need some information on an employer of mine." Matt watched as he slowly reached into his coat, his other hand held up in a placating gesture. Matt almost couldn't hold back a snort at the not-so-subtle attempt of trying to reassure him. At this point, a weapon would be the least of his worries. The hand tugged out a sealed plastic bag. From here Matt could see a flash drive and a folded sheet of paper tucked into it the plastic keeping both items dry and safe from the rain. Looking back from the bag to the Vagabond's face he raised a questioning eyebrow as the package was held out towards him.   
  
"Look, everything is on that flash drive. All I need to know is if I'm being double crossed."   
  
Reaching out Matt took the bag in a shaking hand and stuffed it into his pocket without even glancing at it. He'd take a closer look when he got home, whether or not he decided to help the guy out, "Why exactly do you need my help? I can't go against the Crew, man."   
  
Vagabond huffed out a breath and crossed his arms, "And I'm not asking you to. This guy has no dealings with the Fakes. I need help and while I'll be the first to admit that I don't like working with others. Too messy, too many loose ends, I'm at a loss as to what to do. My deals keep turning sour, every hit I go after is a trap. Someone is out for me and I need to know who. But I can't poke around without looking over my shoulder every five seconds. That's why I'm asking."   
  
Matt blinked slowly, shocked. He had... not expected this at all. The Vagabond was essentially a ghost, even Matt himself hadn't been able to find anything on the man when he was searching for the Crew (and maybe for a few personal reasons, okay? The dude was pretty fucking cool). The guy didn't work _with_ anybody, but Matt supposed that everyone had their limit. If he was being chased down he'd probably ask for help, too. Matt also realized that it had probably been the best idea for the man to come to him in the first place. He was already well established with a crew, not looking to garner favor from his boss, and the employer in question (apparently) had nothing to do with with the Fakes. So he had no reason to mention this to Geoff, at least aside from the glaringly obvious one being that he shouldn't fucking take jobs from non Crew members which was tacked neatly on top of the fact that he shouldn't lie to his crew.   
  
Eventually Matt just sighed, "I'll think about it, but if... if this is a fucking setup we'll fuck you up." Matt knew the threat fell flat when he caught sight of a brief moment of the Vagabond's eyes squinting behind his mask, the fucker was grinning.   
  
"It's not, but I understand your distrust."  
  
Lightning flashed, illuminating the area and casting a terrifying glow over the Vagabond, the man's blue eyes shining with the bright burst of light. Thunder cracked soon after causing Matt to jump. The noise was loud. Matt's eyes darted wildly around the area again, more on edge than before, eventually once again resting his gaze on the Vagabond the man watching him closely in return. They were both quiet. Matt's breathing unsteady as he willed his mind to quit racing. After only a few moments he sighed and nodded. He didn't miss the way the Vagabond visibly relaxed at his acceptance.  
  
"I can pay you, obviously." He spoke up, louder now, over the now pouring rain. At this point they were both soaked, clothes drenched with rainwater which led Matt to having no clue as to how the hell he was going to convince a cab to come get him. Maybe he could just suck it up and call Jeremy. He'd probably do that, asshole owed him anyway. Blinking he struggled to force his attention back to the matter at hand  
  
"I don't really need money," He admitted. He had more than he knew what to do with. He was barely even in this for the money anyway, only really used any to buy new computer parts and video games, but other than that it was all going into (many) separate accounts for safekeeping. Maybe one day he'd use it for something. Payment wasn't really all that important honestly; he's more more interested in this entire thing out of curiosity. It wasn't every day that the Vagabond asked others for favor, notorious lone wolf that he was, and Matt was more than ready to do this for free if only to see what he could dig up.   
  
"A favor then. An eye for an eye… so to speak,” He grinned, eyes crinkling behind his mask again, “With a more pleasant twist than the adage is referring to, of course."   
  
Matt startled, "A...a favor? Dude are you sure?" _Idiot_. Why the hell would you talk him out of that? A favor from the Vagabond; how could it get any better than that? "Forget I said that. A favor it is." He paused when he heard a quiet laugh escape the other man. Embarrassment and a little bit of fear traveled up Matt's spine. He swallowed, and if it weren't for the fact that he was already sure he was flushed from the cold, he could bet his entire net worth on the fact that he'd be bright red after that gut wrenching move.   
  
"You sure drive a hard bargain," Vagabond quipped, "Anything within my power, _within reason_. I trust you not to abuse this offer." Matt nodded. He wasn't stupid. He definitely wouldn't fuck it up. "Good."  
  
And, with that the Vagabond just turned and walked away. Matt watched a little dumbfounded until the man had disappeared out of the alley. Disbelief was coursing through him, and if he didn't still have the small baggy clasped in his grip, he'd be hard pressed to prove that the meeting had happened at all. As it was he was doing his best not to focus on the fact that the Vagabond had just joked with him. There was only so much his heart could take tonight; he’d dissect that later.

Eventually he too moved. Shivers ran down his body and at this point all he wanted was a hot bath and some sleep. He doubted he was going to leave his room tomorrow, too strung out to even want to look at a person, much less spend the day surrounded by them, plus he had some interesting work to get started on. Luckily the Crew had just finished a major heist so he was fairly certain he’d have a good week or so before Geoff would be calling on him to do anything pressing. He was already planning out how he was going to go about taking a look at the USB as he left the dark alleyway and exited onto the street. Deciding to duck under an actually useful awning to pull out his phone and call Jeremy, he picked up his pace and hurried down the street. The boy would probably be in the middle of some game with Gavin and Michael, and he'd likely put up some sort of half argument at coming to get Matt, but he'd do it, and he wouldn’t ask too many questions, especially if he could tell just how on edge Matt was.    
  
Breathing out through his nose he reached into a soaked jean pocket and pulled out a hair tie to tie his hair back as he finally came to a stop under some decent shelter. Phone call, shower, sleep and then tomorrow Vagabond. Matt, despite his best effort at his brain telling him he should still probably be freaking the fuck out, couldn't help the small twang of excitement that tugged his mouth into a grin. Reaching into his back pocket for his phone he leant back against the brick wall of the building and tapped on Jeremy's name in his contacts before pressing the phone to his ear. This was definitely going to turn out interesting, one way or another.


	2. Honestly, Just Fuck It...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt takes a long hard look at his life before saying 'fuck it' and decides to do the dumb thing anyway. 
> 
> \------------------------------
> 
> He'd gotten the Vagabond to laugh, well, sort of, it had been more of an amused chuckle, but he was certain the sound was something rarely heard from others. He could hardly believe that he had done it himself and even under the cool spray of water Matt flushed as he thought back to the man's voice as it had been unlike anything he'd expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINALLY WROTE ANOTHER CHAPTER. That's a lie. This has been sitting on my computer for months. I've just been too afraid to post it. I'm trying hard to get this story going, but honestly I have no plot. It's just going chapter by chapter.

Sunlight filtered through the large curtains draped across the windows that made up the fourth wall of Matt's room. They were parted just enough to let in the early morning beams of sunlight that were managing to break through the still drizzly sky. Eyelids fluttering he shifted to look outside catching sight of a half formed rainbow just before it disappeared as the clouds drifted by. It looked like another storm was rolling in and Matt was more than alright with that. Storms and rain usually meant that the others would be lethargic and not decide to have an impromptu heist for no other reason than they're bored and okay, usually they didn't drag Matt into those, but it was known to happen on occasion. Today Matt would give anything just to be left alone for a little while.

A quiet roll of thunder backed up Matt's assumption and a satisfied breath escaped as he rolled onto his back. As he lay there, eyes closed his thoughts began to drift back to last night as he went back over everything that had happened. He honestly couldn't believe that he had met the Vagabond or that the Vagabond had singled him out for help. It was just.... weird. It was weird. Matt snorted out a laugh at his own inability to form an exact thought about the situation that he had been in, but the entire situation had been so out of his realm of possibilities that actually having it happen had made the entire thing seem like it had never happened. He knew he'd had the same thoughts last night, but there on his desk was the USB, just as it had been clenched in his hand the entire time last night. It hadn't been a dream, it had actually happened and now he was doing a side job for the Vagabond. 

Afterwards, when Jeremy had picked him up and they had pulled out onto the quiet streets of Los Santos Jeremy was giving him the look that Matt knew meant they were going to talk about it eventually. Matt knew he wasn't going to get out of it though he knew that his friend would at least give him the night to get his head back on straight given how flustered Matt was sure he looked. So, instead of saying anything about what had happened he quietly asked Jeremy to drive them around a bit before going home. His friend almost immediately took that as an incentive to go on a late night McDonald's run. 

While sitting in the parking lot as Jeremy ate Matt pried open the USB and checked inside for any sort of tracking device, he wasn't stupid and while the Vagabond had asked for help there was no way of trusting the man 100%. Jeremy watched on curiously, but again said nothing and Matt would be forever thankful that Jeremy wasn't the type of person to press, especially when it came to Matt, knowing that the man would eventually tell him everything if given enough time.

Matt had flipped the device in his hands, checking it carefully before popping it back together. He would have to be careful putting this into a computer as well, just in case it was storing some sort of Malware that was intended to fuck their system up. He knew he had enough spare laptops stashed around that he wouldn't have to worry about hooking it up to a computer connected in any way to their network. None of them had any of their data or sensitive information on them that was related to their jobs so he didn't need to worry about that either and on the off chance that it was containing some sort of shitty virus Matt was very good at what he was hired for and was very confident that he could contain it before it did anything anyway. 

Running a hand over his face Matt pulled himself from his own mind. He sighed and thought about leaving his room it was still very early and likely no one would be awake. He could grab some coffee and a quick breakfast and be back in here without having to socialize with anyone, the very idea at even opening his mouth to speak seemed exhausting. Glancing at the door Matt winced, then again maybe he could just make do with a glass of water and a shower before getting to work. That... that sounded much better if he were honest, a slim chance of running into someone turning into no chance. Yeah, after everything that had happened last night he'd take the no chance option easily.

He pushed himself into a sitting position and ran a hand through his hair, definitely a shower first, he decided, then straight to his computer to work. Biting back a yawn he pushed the covers off himself and slipped out of bed making his way to his en-suite bathroom. That had been one of his only demands when moving into the penthouse. He needed to have his own bathroom. He was pretty sure most of the rooms came with one, but he knew a couple of them shared one in the hall. Matt, with Jeremy backing him up, easily talked his way into having his own and well, it wasn't unwarranted. Matt didn't do well with other people in his personal space, he wasn't particularly obsessive about things, he just... people messing with his stuff made him anxious. His room was his safe place and having a bathroom in the room where people couldn't fuck with his shit was beyond helpful. 

Turning on the shower he adjusted it to where it was just barely lukewarm, he'd already taken an overly hot shower last night when he'd gotten back to the penthouse, it had helped force the chill out of his bones and to settle his mind a little. He wished he could have taken a bath, but he knew the moment he sunk into the water he would have fallen asleep, and probably ended up drowning himself, he had been exhausted, and now he just wasn't in the mood. Tugging off his sleep clothes he stepped under the spray, a pleased sigh passing his parted lips as the water beat down on his tired form. 

He couldn't help but to let his mind begin to wander as he washed off last nights sleep and found no surprise in the fact that his thoughts once again drifted back to the Vagabond. He couldn't help but to wonder what the man looked like. Was he disfigured? Is that why he wore the mask or was it simply just to keep his identity a secret? Was he really a spy? 

He'd gotten the Vagabond to laugh, well, sort of, it had been more of an amused chuckle, but he was certain the sound was something rarely heard from others. He could hardly believe that he had done it himself and even under the cool spray of water Matt flushed as he thought back to the man's voice as it had been unlike anything he'd expected. Honestly now that Matt thought about it he could admit that he half expected the Vagabond to sound like Bane, he wasn't proud of the thought, but honestly could you blame him? The guy walked around in a mask and even though they were, probably, for completely different reasons it wasn't a completely stupid assumption that the guy would have some sort of voice modulator as well. 

In the end the image that his wandering thoughts conjured made him snort. Not only was that ridiculous, but Matt was almost 100% positive that the man wouldn't be able to conduct any sort of business sounding as ridiculous as Bane had in the movie. Laughing lightly he moved to shut off the water, reaching out to grab a towel and pat himself dry. Wringing out his hair as best he could he grabbed another hair tie and pulled it back before wandering back into his room to throw on some loose jeans and a baggy shirt along with another hoodie, the one from last night having been thrown into the wash by Jeremy as soon as they had arrived back at the penthouse (Matt wasn't sure what he did to deserve the shorter man as a friend but whatever it was he was thankful every day for it).

On his way back to the bathroom to grab a glass of water and brush his teeth he pressed the power on his computer, letting it boot up. Dropping into his chair, setting his glass on the desk he reached down beside his computer for a spare laptop and really Matt couldn't help but to wonder at what point it became common place just have spare, fully functioning laptops in a stack next to his desk. Turning it on he set it to the side, scrolling through his emails before deeming that nothing of importance was needed of him this very minute and finally caved in his excitement. Grabbing the USB off the table near his keyboard he shoved it into the laptop and was pleasantly surprised at the fact that it really was just a bunch of files. 

Matt clicked through the files, giving most of them a cursory glance separating them into what would be helpful and what probably wouldn't, though he was going to go back and look into all of them more thoroughly before he started digging into anything on his own. From what he got at first look it seemed that the Vagabond was working for a man named Edward Pierce. Matt frowned, that name sounded much to familiar to him. Turning to his desktop he typed in the man's name and couldn't stop the groan that left him at what popped up, of course; Edward Pierce, owner of a multi-billion dollar company here in Los Santos, owned about a third of the city. Though Vagabond was right, he hadn't (yet at least) tried to shoehorn his way into the FAKEs territory and from what he could find in the files he didn't really have any intention too. Though, what did concern Matt was the fact that Pierce was currently trying to take over small pieces of land in random sections of the city. 

He took a sip of water and slipped his headphones on over his ears, he had a lot of work to do. 

\------

Matt startled as the lights in his room suddenly flickered off and on. It took him a moment to pull himself from the screens in front of him to slip his headphones off and turn to look at the door to his room not at all surprised to see Jeremy standing there smiling warmly at him. After accidentally socking Jeremy in the face when the man had startled him while he was at the computer they both realized that this method was a much easier and much less anxiety inducing way to get Matt's attention, especially when he was focusing so hard on something. 

"Hey Jer, what's up?" He asked, setting his headphones down on his desk and turning his chair around to fully face his friend. Jeremy was dressed, more normally than usual so Matt assumed that wherever he was going it wasn't part of a heist. 

"Have you been sitting here the entire day?" Jeremy frowned walking into the room, his expression turning almost fond when Matt looked startled. Turning to look out the window Matt frowned when he saw that it was once again pouring down rain outside giving no hint at all to what time of day it was. Jeremy laughed lightly as he came to a stop next to Matt's chair, "It's almost 6 man, what the hell were you doing that had you so distracted?" 

"SIX!?" Matt yelled, looking at Jeremy in disbelief only to have his friend begin to laugh harder. Matt groaned and fell back against his chair, "at least it's the same fucking day," He paused and his worried look returned, "It is the same day right?" He asked sounding distressed. Jeremy just nodded. 

"Yeah, dude. Same day. Picked you up last night looking like a drowned rat and dragged your ass back here where you promptly passed out. You ready to talk about that yet?" 

Matt winced and spared a small glance towards his computers, all the information still on display. Jeremy caught the look and turned to the screens, leaning forward, past Matt to see them easier, his eyes going wide at the picture he saw hovering in the corner of one of the monitors. 

"What the hell are you looking into Edward Pierce for?" Jeremy asked, his gaze turning to look at Matt, expression flickering with concern and confusion.

"Would you let it go if I told you I shouldn't talk about it?" Matt muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose at Jeremy's near immediate 'are you shitting me?' look, "Yeah, that's what I figured." 

Matt sighed, his stomach rumbling moments later breaking them both out of the tense moment that had settled between them. Jeremy snorted and took a step back away from Matt, knocking his hand against the man's chair sending him in a slow circle before he managed to catch himself. 

"Are you up to getting some food? You can tell me about what you're doing and i'll try not to be pissed at you." 

Matt knew that he could say no, that he wasn't up to being around anyone else, if Jeremy had asked him this morning he definitely would have said that, but he's been alone the entire day and the thought of leaving his room now doesn't set his teeth on edge. He swivels his chair around and takes a quick moment to backup all of the information that he had found during his search. He still had quite a bit to go through, but he had some massive leads and he was pretty sure that the Vagabond was definitely not going to be happy with what he found. 

A moment later he was standing and turning to Jeremy, "Alright alright, let's go. I want a hamburger, a good one, not McDonalds again." 

\------

"You can't fucking be serious!" Jeremy shouted, leaning forward in his seat

"Fuck you dude, be louder." Matt snapped glancing around. They'd gone to the least crew related place to eat so it wasn't like anyone here would be eavesdropping, but it couldn't hurt to be careful. You never fucking know anymore, not that most people recognized Jeremy out of his signature purple and orange outfit, but still it had Matt on edge talking about this in public. 

Jeremy just waved him off, "No one is paying attention. But, seriously, The Vagabond hired you? Shit, if Geoff finds out-" 

"Geoff isn't going to find out." Matt muttered, cutting Jeremy off, "This...okay I may have fucked up in accepting the job and possibly in not mentioning it to Geoff, but come on, if I can get this to work out in our favor the guy will owe us." 

"Not us, you." Jeremy rolled his eyes and took a swig of his beer, "I doubt the guy gives a shit about us. Hell if someone offered him the right amount of money he'd probably just try to take us out. I'm honestly surprised he didn't take you out the other day or just fucking kidnap you." 

Matt winced and nodded, "Yeah that was uh... I will admit that wasn't my best idea-" 

"No shit." 

"But! It turned out okay. So far and look, if I can just get the information he needs we're done. All I have to do is email him what I figure out and it's over. I don't even have to demand anything for the favor," Matt was rambling and he knew it, but everything Jeremy was saying was making perfect sense and he really wished he'd not gone last night or turned the man down because right now he was technically committing treason against his crew and that thought worming its way into his mind suddenly flipped his stomach making it feel like it was in a vice and effectively putting him off the rest of his meal. Shoving his plate away he let his head fall to the table, he was such an idiot, but he was in too deep at this point and to be honest he really didn't want to back out. 

"So.... what have you found out?" 

Matt blinked slowly and sat back up giving Jeremy a wary look, eyebrow raised. Jeremy was just watching him expectantly, waiting.

"Uh, yeah that I am not talking details about here." He glanced around the bar, feeling like everyone's eyes were on him even though he knew that no one here gave a shit about him, "I haven't found much yet, but I have found enough to make me curious. None of it is honestly worth mentioning. Bits and pieces that are slowly adding up, but this guy is good. The Vagabond didn't ask for much, just enough to prove the guy was after him and I'm fairly certain I'm on the right track."

Jeremy nodded, "Well, if you get too deep you know I'm here if you need me to bail you out. Now, finish your food."

Matt rolled his eyes, "Who are you, my fucking mom?" He laughed, the tension in his stomach easing ever so slightly knowing that he had Jeremy to back him up if he got in over his head. He wasn't sure how much that would help underneath the wrath of Geoff if this got out, but he appreciated the sentiment all the same.


	3. Author's Note - I'M NOT QUITTING THE STORY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smol update!!

Hey GUYS!

First off: THIS IS NOT ME ANNOUNCING THAT I"M STOPPING THIS STORY!! 

What it is though is me announcing that I'm going to do my fucking best to finish this story before I decide to post anything else!! 

I'm going to try and crack down and finish the entire thing in the next few months and then that way i'll be able to post a chapter a week until it's done! 

No excuses. haha! And fingers crossed it won't take me another year!

I'm very thankful to those that have continued to read the story and are actually looking forward to what happens, it really REALLY means a lot to me!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the story!! If you liked pls let me know! Also visit my Tumblr @ [Beach Blanket Bingo](http://beachblanketbingo.tumblr.com/) and yell more ideas/suggestions at me if you want!


End file.
